Funding boosted to help people in Wales suffering from long Covid

Health Minister Eluned Morgan has announced increased funding to widen access to Wales’ long-Covid services, including for people experiencing other long-term conditions.

Annual funding will increase to £8.3 million for Adferiad (Recovery) services.

The community-based rehabilitation services will continue to and support people with long COVID but they will also be expanded to people with other long term conditions whose rehabilitation and recovery are similar.

This includes myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia and other post-viral associated conditions.

The funding will also continue to support the self-management COVID recovery app and the All-Wales guideline for the management of long COVID.

Adferiad (Recovery) Services provide diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, and care for people experiencing long-term effects of COVID-19.

They have been designed to respond to the particular needs of each individual whilst providing care as close to home as possible.

People are supported by multi-professional teams including psychologists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and nurses. If more specialist care is needed, people can be referred for further help and support.

Since the launch of the programme in 2021, more than £10 million has been invested to support the development of these community based rehabilitation and recovery services in all health board areas.

Priority

Eluned Morgan said: “Investing in Adferiad services to support people suffering from the long-term effects of Covid-19 infection has been and remains a priority.

“We have a valuable community asset as a result of developing these services, which we must continue to nurture and and capitalise on this.

“We know many people with other, long term conditions have reported feeling ‘misunderstood’ and ‘invisible’. I hope by widening access to Adferiad (Recovery) services we can better support people with conditions such as ME/CFS and fibromyalgia to get a diagnosis, manage their symptoms and access rehabilitation services, which are vital in helping improve physical and mental health and wellbeing.

“I am committed to expanding capacity in our community and primary care services. This recurrent investment, which complements other funding to expand primary and community care capacity provided to the NHS, local authorities and Regional Partnership Boards supports our ambition to improve access to health professionals and further develop community care services.”